After hearing no objections at public hearings Monday, Moorhead City Council approved about $625,000 in tax incentives and loans for two housing projects.

Easten Townhomes, 38 units of housing for low-income tenants, will receive about $350,000 in tax increment financing and a city-backed loan of about $125,000.

The townhomes, planned by Twin Cities-based developer Charles Riesenberg, will help replace the 46 units of public housing slated to be torn down in the next year, said Byron Brink, Moorhead’s public housing director.

The project calls for 30 units of family rentals along Fourth Avenue North between 28th and 30th streets north. The other eight units will be designed for the recently homeless and be built at the north corners of Belsly Boulevard and 18th Street South.

Seventeen different sources of financing, including the city’s contribution, federal grants and state loans, will help defray the cost of the $5.6 million project, said Lisa Vatnsdal, the city’s manager of neighborhood services.

“It is taking a lot of partners to bring a project like this to fruition,” she said.

Council approved $140,000 in tax increment financing for the 12-unit Steeple Court Condominiums, a project Moorhead developer Roger Erickson is planning on the former site of Churches United homeless shelter at 203 6th St. S., also once home to the Bethesda Lutheran Church.

The project is eligible for the tax break because of the pollutants removed after the old church was demolished and because of the parking planned at the site, said Peter Doll, the city’s manager of developmental services.

Councilman John Rowell voted against the tax break because the condominium complex will be “inelegant.”

“It does not recognize the site where it is being placed,” he said. “This could be anywhere. It does not connect with the neighborhood.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535